Time lamplighter.



No. s3a,o|s. Patented Nov. 28,1899.

I A. JOHNSON.

TIME LAMPLI'GHTER.

[Application filed. May 2, 1899.) (No Model.)

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PATENT ARTHUR JOHNSON, or IPSWICH, MASSAoHUSETTS;

.TlME LAM PLIGHTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 638,018, dated November 28, 1895.

Application filed May 2,1899. Serial No. 715,343. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, ARTHUR JOHNSON, a subject of the King of Sweden and Norway, residing at Ipswich, county of Essex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Flame-Controlling Devices, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings,is a specification, like letters and numerals on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has forits object the production of means whereby a flame may be ignited automatically at a predetermined time or at a desired timeas, for example, when it is desired to start the flame in a stove, whether the flame is that of the wick in an oil-stove or the kindling in an ordinary stove, or whether the flame to be ignited is to start a wood or other fire. I prefer to combine also with the igniting means devices whereby the flame may be extinguished when desired.

The various features of my invention will be illustrated and described fully in the accompanying drawings and specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates in side elevation a view of my igniting apparatus set and ready to operate. Fig. 2 shows the same apparatus in front elevation, the controlling means being omitted to show the apparatus of the igniting device, showing also an oil stove or lamp to aid in understanding the mode of operation. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the igniting device. Figs. 4 and 5 are details to which reference will be made more at length hereinafter. Fig. 6 shows the parts of the stove illustrated in Fig. 2 adjacent the wick with an extinguishing device forming one of the features of my invention, and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the same with the addition of one form of controlling means therefor.

In the construction selected as a convenient form for illustration and description to enable my invention to be understood, a; designates an igniting member mounted pivotally at 1) upon a Suitable support 0, said member being provided, preferably at d, with a serrated or roughened friction-surface adapted to engage frictionally a match 6, which may conveniently be presented toward the igniting member by a suitable gripping device mounted on the support 0. Such a device I have illustrated as aslide f, adapted to move vertically between the wall 9 and an inclined abutment h near the latter, said slide being thickened at its lower portion i, so that when it is raised the shank of the match will be gripped between it and the abutment h and held firmly in,place, an aperturej being provided, preferably, to give the match a firm bearing and insure its proper position with relation to the igniting member.

The igniting member may be actuated by any suitable means, and as a convenient form of such means I have shown a tension-spring 7t, attached at m to the igniting member and at n to a base 0 or extension of the support 0. When arranged thus, it will be seen that the spring tends normally to draw the arm of the member a, carrying the igniting-surface c, downward in the arc of a circle, the ignitingsurface 0 being formed, preferably, as a segment of a circle. It will be found convenient to set the igniting member in raised position normally and hold it there until released by a suitable controlling device, and one form of such holding means is illustrated at p, which in this instance is a hook formed of wire bent at its lower portion, so that it can be journaled, as at q, in a suitable bearing 0, secured to the base 0 by suitable means, as

'screws 3, the wire of which the hook is formed being preferably extended upward again beyond the bearing, as at t, to form a controllingarm, which may, if desired, be broadened at u.

It will be obvious that the holding means 19 may be tripped manually or by any suitable means without the necessity for providing an extension or other means 15; but I have shown such an extension t to enable the use of such controlling means as the alarm-winding key '0 of the well-known type of alarmclock illustrated at w. The method of setting the alarm in such clocks is too well known to need detailed explanation, and it will be obvious that when the moment is reached for which the alarm has been setthe key v will be rotated as usual and engaging the portion a of the member. 19 will displace it toward the left, looking toward Fig. 2, and will thus move the hook portion 19 also toward the left, and release the igniting member a it will be is same pulled downward by the spring into the dotted-line position'shown in Fig. 2, in its passage igniting the match 6.

Where an alarm-clock is used, it will be found desirable to provide means for holding it firmly upon the base 0, and such means I have shown at a: in the form of forked fastening-arms projecting upward from the base 0, to which they may be secured by any suitable means, as screws .2. Preferably means for adjusting these members to different sizes of clocks and for adjusting the clock toward and away from the member a will be provided, a convenient form of such means being illustrated in the form of slots 1 in the members as and 2 in the base.

Usually it will be desired to place the igniting device at some little distance from the wick or other ignitible stuff, and in Fig. 2 I have illustrated one manner in which this may be accomplished conveniently by the use of a fuse, as indicated at 3, which is led from the match 6 to the alarm 4, which in this instance has a wick 5, selected to illustrate the mode of operation. The fuse 3 may be led up through an aperture 6 in the usual gauze 7 and if desirable a clip 8 or other means may be utilized to hold the fuse in proper relation to the wick, said clip passing around the burner 9, The fuse 3 may be maintained at its end next the match in proper relation to the latter by being laid across it, or if further means to secure it in place are found desirable a clip may be provided on the support 0, as indicated at 10, and it will usually be found convenient to provide a supply of fuse in continuous form-as, for example, a spool of wax thread (indicated at 11)-within a receptacle 12, which to avoid danger of ignition of the supply of fuse maybe provided with a cover 13, provided, if desired, with a handle 14. It will'be found that the flame from the match cannot travel back into the receptacle, but will be stopped there by the clip 10 or at the point 15, where the fuse passes under the-cover, which will preferably make a tight flt for that purpose.

In operation when the igniting member a has been released and the match ignited the flame will be communicated from the match to the fuse and will travel along it through the aperture 6 to the wick 5, which will be ignited.

Usually the fuse will not need any extra support; but if it is desired to provide such support in order to prevent the burning fuse from dropping, with the danger of igniting accidentally some inflammable material other than the wick, some such supporting means 16, as shown in Fig. 8, may be used, the means illustrated being composed of a piece of suitable wire or other non-inflammable substance suitably held, as in a socket 17 on the casing c. This will preferably be curved, as illustrated, to permit the flame to travel along the fuse 18, and the length of the member 16 will be governed by the distance it is necessary to have the fuse travel. Such a support may also be used to prevent the flame of the fuse from being put out by the fuse falling into contact with some portion of the construction, which would prevent the flame from traveling along the fuse.

As already indicated, I prefer to provide also for extinguishing the flame, especially where the flame of a lamp or stove is to be controlled, and as one convenient form of such means I have illustrated in Figs. 2 and 6 a damper 19, mounted pivotally, as at 20, on the frame of the burner adjacent the wick and adapted when suitably actuated to fall down upon the wick and extinguish the flame thereon. To enable this device to be actuated, I may provide a handle 21, connected to the damper and adapted to be ac' tuated either manually or, if desired, auto matically from the igniting device. To en'- able such automatic operation, I have shown at 22 a lever supported pivotally at 23 from the frame of the burner adjacent the handle 21 of the igniting device, said lever havinga shorter arm 24, adapted to engage said handle, and a longer arm 25, adapted to be ex tended into the path of the igniting mem-' ber a.

It will be understood, of course, that when the igniting device is to be used to operate the extinguisher the use of the fuse will be omitted. I

' Instead of operating the extinguisher indirectly through the instrumentality of the igni-ting device the extinguisher may be oper ated directly from the alarm-key of a clock, as illustrated in Fig. 7, where an arm 26 is extended adjacent and in position to trip the handle 27 when turned by the alarm-key of the clock, to which key the arm may be con nected in any suitable fashion, as by a spring clip 28.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus of the class specified an oscillatory lever having a segmental head at one end provided with a roughened face adapted to ignite a match, a support provided with a downwardly-extending diagonally-disposed projection, a vertically-movable slide disposed in proximity to said projection and constituting with the latter a means to grip a match with the head thereof in position to be struck by said roughened face and having a diagonal match-holding face, a coiled spring connected to said lever between its fulcrum and head, a catch adapted to engage one end of the lever and an alarm-clock having a finger operative to operate said catch and throw the same out of engagement with said lever.

2. In an apparatus of the class specified, a spring-actuated igniting device, a support provided with a downwardly-extending diagonally-disposed projection, a vertically-movable slide disposed in proximity to said pro means to grip a match, and having a diago- ARTHUR JOHNSON.

jection and constituting with the latter a nal match-holding face, a catch for holding the igniting device in its effective position, a clock having a rotative object, and means operated by said rotative object for efiecting the Witnesses: release of the igniting device at a predeter- CHARLES A. SAYWARD,

mined point. JOHN NELSON; 

